the glass. Jefferson had two easy chances in front of the rim, but couldnt get the ball over the basket on

Ive always wondered why there are so few third basemen in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. Nike Shoes From China Outlet . In fact there are fewer that played the "Hot Corner" in the Hall than any other position. In total there are 16 men enshrined, but four of them were restricted to playing in the Negro Leagues because of the social injustice of racism and the Colour Barrier. Of the remaining 12, Paul Molitor actually only played the position for a little over 700 games, due in large part to injuries. He earned his spot in the Hall and deservedly so for his versatility, his hitting and his ability as a DH, not to mention, his incredible baseball "IQ" and base running ability. That only leaves 11 men who primarily played third and made it to Cooperstown, since the first class was announced in 1936. Though playing a corner infield position might initially make you think of power first and defence second, it really seems to be the other way around. Only two of the 11 hit over 500 home runs, Phillies great Mike Schmidt and Braves legend Eddie Mathews. George Brett was next over 200 behind them. Brett and Wade Boggs were both incredible gap to gap hitters. Its a little surprising to see that four of these Hall of Famers actually hit fewer than 100 homers, including Frank "Home Run" Baker, who won four home run titles despite only hitting 96 in his career in the early 1900s. Baker actually used a 52 ounce bat that could be as many as 20 ounces heavier than the lumber used today. Defence is really the gold standard at third base. Orioles Brooks Robinson, who really defined greatness in the 60s and 70s at third, won 16 Gold Gloves. 16 in a row, I might add. Schmidt won 10 Gold Gloves and six Sliver Slugger awards as top hitter at his position in addition to being a three time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star. There simply isnt anyone in that class today. When I first saw Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie and Orioles third baseman Manny Machado play, I thought both had a shot at greatness. Theyre both certainly young enough to reach those lofty heights, but Lawrie has been bogged down by injuries and Machado has now had season ending surgeries on both knees over the last two seasons. The top three third baseman right now, in no particular order, are Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets David Wright and Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers. Longoria has established himself as one of the top two or so defensively while still striving to achieve his full potential offensively. Wright, slowed by injuries this season, is a seven time all-star and two-time Gold Glover. What he really needs is a winning Mets team to raise his profile. Beltre at 35 is in the twilight of a very good career, he is a four- time Gold Glove winner and has taken three Silver Slugger awards. He has a fairly decent shot at being the 17th third baseman to get into Cooperstown Ed Sprague is probably the best third baseman the Blue Jays ever developed on their own. Others such as Kelly Gruber, Tony Batista, Scott Rolen, Troy Glaus or Lawrie were picked up in deals or draft claims (Gruber) from other organizations. Even the great platoon of the early days Garth Iorg and Rance Mulliniks originated elsewhere. In their entire history, the Blue Jays have only had one of their third basemen win a Gold Glove; Gruber in 1990. As great a franchise as the Yankees are, Boggs and Frank Baker are the only third baseman to make it to Cooperstown. Boggs spent the lions share of his career in Boston and Baker began his career in Philadelphia. Over the weekend, Arizona made it known, theyre going to at least experiment with moving former Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill from the "Keystone" to third next season. Its partially because they havent developed anyone else for the position, partially because of his power potential and because they cant find another team to take his contract off their hands. Its just another example though of how difficult it is to find and develop a quality third baseman let alone a Hall of Famer. Last week I talked about how much easier the Tigers schedule looked down the stretch since they had 11 games remaining with Minnesota, While on the weekend, they wrapped out 60 hits in their four game set with the Twins at Target Field. The last time Detroit did that in a four game series was July 6th to the 8th in 1956 at old Comiskey Park in Chicago against the White Sox. Yet for all of that offence, the Tigers could only get a split and remain a game back of Seattle for that final Wild Card position. How important is a teams road record? Well only one team currently holding a losing record away from home is in possession of a Play-off position, That would be St. Louis at (31-33) and sitting in the first Wild Card spot in the National League, The Blue Jays are (32-36) with just 13 road games to go. Fake Nike Shoes From China . LA (SportsNetwork. Fake Nike Shoes . Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ . Last year, Islanders forward Colin Mcdonald released a "Do It For Colin" campaign to promote his teammate and friend John Tavares for the EA sports honour:The most popular sports voting video ever has to go to Chris Bosh who showcased his comedic abilities in his effort to get fans to vote him into the 2008 All Star Game:You can vote for TJ and other star players for the NHL 15 cover vote here. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Trey Burke scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Utah Jazz snapped the Charlotte Bobcats three-game winning streak with an 88-85 victory Saturday night. Burke hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 left to put his team up by three and added a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining. Gordon Hayward had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, who had lost three of their past four games. Derrick Favors added 14 points. Kemba Walker scored 20 points and Al Jefferson had 19 for the Bobcats, who were playing their fourth game in five nights. The victory would have gotten the Bobcats (13-15) back to .500 on the season. At halftime, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan unveiled the teams new primary logo for when the team changes names to the Charlotte Hornets after this season. The Bobcats trailed 81-72 with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter and appeared ready to make a run. After Gerald Henderson hit a pair of free throws, Jefferson started to come alive, cutting the lead to four with a power move inside, drawing an and-one on Favours. On the next possession, Jefferson had a one-handed put-back dunk to bring the teal and purple clad fans to their feet and close the gap to 81-79. Nike Shoes From China. . Jefferson then tied the game at 83 with three minutes left on a dunk off a no-look pass from Walker. But Burke hit a 3-pointer to put the Jazz back in front. The Jazz had a chance to extend the lead but Alec Burks threw an alley-oop pass over the head of Haywood and out of bounds on a 3-on-1 fast break with 1:38 remaining. That seemed to trigger a flurry of turnovers on both ends of the court. With 27 seconds left, Walker beat Burke to the hole on the drive but missed the layup off the glass. Jefferson had two easy chances in front of the rim, but couldnt get the ball over the basket on either try. The Jazz got the ball and Burke was fouled. The rookie knocked down both free throws with 10 seconds left to push the lead back to three. Walker and Henderson each had 3-point opportunities on Charlottes final possession but couldnt connect. The Bobcats started the week with a win at home Tuesday night against Sacramento and then overcame deficits of 16 points and 20 points on the road to beat Toronto and Detroit. ' ' '